We can all make a change. Together, we’re a union that can work to make things better, on campus and beyond. UCL is yours, so it should be what you want it to be. We’re led by students. That means you’re in charge.

We’re here to make you feel at home. All of our spaces are your spaces. We’re transforming our bars, cafes, fitness and study areas to create the places to make friends and relax. And as a not-for-profit charity, we put anything we earn into making the union better for you.

Driven by drama, sport, art or politics? Students’ Union UCL offers all sorts of ways to discover something that will become a part of who you are. Get up on stage. Be creative. Lead a movement. Push yourself further than you imagined.

University is a big, exciting place. But life isn’t always easy. We’re here to give you support when you need us, care about the things you care about, and fight for you when need someone in your corner. Our job is to make sure you feel supported every day.

Key Information and Guidance for 2019-20

The information below outlines key considerations for the year ahead. This is aimed at staff who are familiar with working with Academic Reps and who need only a digest of changes, tweaks, and requests for the year ahead.

SSCC Dates & Scheduling

In consultation with the Student Academic Representation Steering Group, we are ask departments, where possible, not to schedule SSCCs prior to 1 November. This is to ensure new Academic Reps have the time to attend training and think about their upcoming SSCCs in advance. The most common source of negative student feedback we receive from Academic Reps is about SSCCs which are scheduled too early, before they have gotten to grips with their role.

We understand that SSCCs in some areas are scheduled in October in part to ensure undergraduate students can help to finalise the ASER Action Plan. A full meeting of the SSCC is not required to ensure this requirement is met; informal meetings with reps, or even wider groups of students, can fulfil this requirement. The final SSCC meeting of the preceding Academic Session can also be used to establish themes and actions for the upcoming ASER, and is a good way of demonstrating to students that their feedback over the year has informed future work.

Appointing of Representatives

One of the aims of policy on Student Academic Representation is to ensure that greater numbers of students are elected to their representative role. This helps to raise awareness of the role early amongst students, and helps provide the role with some prestige which assists students who take it up.

There are two simple steps which will help substantially:

Ensuring that the deadline for students to express interest is early enough to allow time to hold a poll on moodle or opinio if there are more students interested than roles available.

Not appointing excessive numbers of representatives. Our recommendation is approximately one representative for every 30 students in each cohort of each programme.

Appointing Lead Department Representatives

In consultation with Lead Department Representatives and staff, we recommend that the role should be filled by the representatives for the relevant SSCC choosing from amongst themselves, either by consensus, or with a small election if there is more than one student interested.

Please do note that for the role to work effectively, it should be filled in time to give the Lead Department Representative time to plan the agenda of the first SSCC with their Co-Chair.

Academic Rep Training

Please do remember to encourage your newly appointed Academic Reps to complete training once they are appointed. They will receive an email from us with information within a day or two of us receiving their details. Reps are much more likely to complete training if this is encouraged by their department.

We do not provide recognition, HEAR accreditation, or referencing for Academic Reps who have not attended training. The proportion of Academic Representatives trained is also a Key Performance Indicator in UCL’s Education Strategy 2016-21.

This year we are running online training sessions for Course Representatives & Research Student Representatives. Lead Department Representative training will be delivered face-to-face, by Faculty, along with the Faculty Representatives.

We can all make a change. Together, we’re a union that can work to make things better, on campus and beyond. UCL is yours, so it should be what you want it to be. We’re led by students. That means you’re in charge.